In the end, I like Brian Davis and Grant Long. Their odd quirks and over-excitement kind of make games a little more fun. I don’t mean that because they get me excited, but there are times where you get to laugh at something they said. For instance, against Phoenix after a big dunk, Davis yelled, “Excuse me! I just had an accident… but it was the good kind of accident!” Seriously. Anyway, he’s a little look at him calling games or something.

Those are some of the first-quarter scores the Thunder has allowed just since the beginning of this year. There were a couple of good efforts sprinkled in there as well, like a 19-point New Orleans first quarter, but Oklahoma’s defense early in the game has been abysmal about as often as not for much of the season.

Thankfully, the coaches and players are at least aware of it. It’s troubling that they’re not really doing much about it, at least right now, but I continue to think that because the Thunder at least chides itself for its bad defense out of the gate and often follows it with stellar fourth-quarter defending, there will come a time, hopefully in April, when it starts playing 48 minutes of defense.

But it got me to thinking: There can’t be much out there that’s worse than OKC’s defensive effort in the first quarter, but what is? Here are a few things, in no particular order. Keep Reading…

Rick Reilly wrote a column on KD. It was a little weird, but I appreciate the effort: “NBA PR flacks keep telling me that Oklahoma City Thunder superstar Kevin Durant is “just like any 22-year-old kid.” They say he does not have a torrid affair going with his wallet or his mirror or his league-stomping 29 points per game. “Perfectly normal,” they insist. So I called their bluff. I met Durant in Chicago, and I brought along a perfectly normal 23-year-old kid — my son, Jake. We all three met in a hotel lobby and plopped down on a couch. “Let’s compare lives! Want to?” I said.”

It’s the sports fan’s mirage. The oasis in the desert. You’re upper level, looking down on the action just wondering, “What would this game look like from down there?”

If you do make the decision to move down, prepare yourself for an evening filled with anxiety. For some reason it’s mildly terrifying sitting in seats that are not your own. Every single person that comes walking toward your section looks like they’re The One. You can’t really enjoy the game because you’re constantly scanning for the seat’s rightful owners. In reality, it’s no big deal. It’s not like you’re in their shower. You’re just sitting in a seat at a game. But it feels like you’re doing something horrible.

And when it finally happens and someone comes up and does the whole pull-their-ticket-out-and-look-confused thing, you have to play it off like you didn’t know. Oh, look at this. This is section 103. I thought it was 303!

We’ve all moved down at some point in our lives. Or at least thought about it. That’s me. Any game I show up to and am sitting upper level, I always say, “Oh, we’ll just move down.” And I never do. Except one time. But it didn’t go so well. Here’s what happened. Keep Reading…

John Hollinger with one of the smartest things written about the Thunder this year: “Thus, the Thunder remain a work in progress. But if we look at their timeline rather than ours, they’re still on schedule. Oklahoma City still has a ton of cap space to take into a new collective bargaining agreement. It still has more good young players than any team in the league, including two rising superstars in Durant and Westbrook, and is in as strong a position as anyone to make a blockbuster trade should the need arise. In the big picture, perhaps it says all you need to know that we’re all disappointed because the Thunder are “only” on course for 52 wins. They are still firmly on the track they established when Durant arrived four years ago. We’re the ones who went off the rails.” Keep Reading…

You know, I let it get to me a little bit. I’m not the type of person that lets stuff like that get to me. Maybe I shouldn’t have said it, but it is what it is. It’s over, I gotta live with it, it’s something I can’t change. So I stand behind it. Don’t get it confused, I respect him as a player and everything like that, but I’m just standing up for myself and my team.

I think that’s absolutely the right approach. As someone standing there when he said it, it was very obvious at the time that KD was frustrated with the loss. He was a bit more emotional than usual. We’re talking about a guy that HATES to lose, and his team just dropped a really big game on national TV at home. He was bummed.

And that Chris Bosh incident was fresh on his mind. I think KD is acknowledging that maybe he let his emotions get the best of him with his comments, but he’s not pulling a LeBron and backing off. He’s not saying he didn’t know what “fake tough guy” meant. He’s standing behind what he said while also understanding he may have been a bit rash in saying it.

I think that shows off KD’s maturation a lot. Remember, the dude’s only 22 years old. He’s still totally a kid. But the best part about him, is that he really never acts that way.

Have you been wondering lately what former Thunder great Robert Swift was up to? I know I do often. Well here’s your answer. He plays in Japan for the Tokyo Apache and shaved off his hair. I just thought you might like to know.

Kelly Dwyer of BDL on the 3-point contest: “With that said, I say it’s Durant’s contest to lose. Because of his range and athleticism, he’s the perfect candidate for an exhibition like this. There are other shooters who I’d want spotting up behind the 3-point arc, wide open, with the game on the line, but for a competition where you have to fire off 25 shots in a limited amount of time, from sideline to sideline? My money’s on Durant.”

Henry Abbott of TrueHoop on the contest: “Know who shoots the most 3s in the NBA this year? Jason Richardson, who has made 40 percent of his 305 3-pointers. Somewhere he’s tossing his tear-streaked stat sheet into a mud puddle and screaming “Kevin Durant?” Durant shot far less, and didn’t hit at nearly the same rate. Keep Reading…